The Bangladesh Integrated Nutrition Project : effectiveness and lessons

Overall Bangladesh is making good progress toward the Millennium Development Goals, faster than any other country in South Asia. Especially in regard to the first goal, "Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger," the country may well be successful. However, although the prevalence of malnutrition among children under five years of age is decreasing, it is still very high-about 40 percent of children under five are stunted and 12 percent are wasted, according to the 2004 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. It is therefore extremely important that the country's commitment and the momentum for improving nutrition be sustained. The Bangladesh Integrated Nutrition Programme (BINP) (see report no. 13193) represented the first large-scale government intervention in nutrition. The program began in 1995; it was followed in 2002 by the National Nutrition Programme and is being followed up now with a sector wide health approach. There has been considerable debate in the press and the scientific community and among development partners about the impact of BINP. This study tries to lay that debate to rest by critically reviewing the various evaluations and trying to explain the variation appearing in the results that were obtained.